I am a lover of all things Irish. So when I picked up this book and saw it had to do with an Irish Immigrant I started reading. Houseguest deals mainly with the interactions of people on a personal level and how those interactions impact on one or both of the people. I was especially interested in Edward's reflection on caring for his wife & young daughter. How guilty he felt for wanting to scream/run away. I wouldn't want people to think all Immigrants wind up living with the upper class, rent free for months. Not likely. Very good novel. The references to Edna O'brien are correct.

This was a happy find: a well-written, thought-provoking book that I had never heard of. The quiet tone and subtly shaded characters are reminiscent of Alice McDermott's best, and not only because they share an Irish heritage. The story moves forward and backward in time, building details introduced in passing into unforgettable characters. I especially admired the silk-dyeing lore -- I didn't know that Paterson, NJ had such a romantic history. A book to treasure.

This is simply a wonderful book, an elegant, straightforward masterpiece. It is a tearjerker without being maudlin, a love story without being overblown, a family drama that is poignant but never cliched. The story of a family pulled apart by death and circumstance‹and reunited in an unpredictable but thoroughly satisfying way, The Houseguest is a book you won't be able to put down‹and won't want to.

Rossi's novel brings together two very different women in the milieu of a jail cell. Mrs. Tyler is introduced first. She is a woman of considerable means, in her fifties, married, and the mother of four grown children. Despite all these factors, or maybe due to these factors, she gives into her compulsion to shoplift.

A night of bad choices ends with an arrest for drunk driving and drug possession for twenty-seven year old Rita. Rita has a job, a husband, and two stepchildren.

The chapters are short narratives alternating points of view. Each chapter reveals a highly personal story that provides insight to the reader, the listener, and the speaker. The pace of the novel is quick. Rossi's descriptions are never cumbersome. The character's background stories are interesting and meaningful. The reader may be as surprised as the characters when it is discovered how much these two women have in common.

The time frame is three days and what can be taken away from this book is a seventy-two hour peek into two women's lives. It is a look just beyond the surface, not a total discovery of self.

I reccommend this book for someone who wants to read something light and enjoyable. It is a book to take on an airplane or toss in a beach bad.

I read this book four or five years ago when it came out and enjoyed it . . . my wife read it, too. If you like Anne Tyler, you'll like Agnes Rossi. She strikes a fun balance between character and plot. Here, it's two women from divergent backgrounds who learn about each other, shed some demons and get a better idea of all the pain they caused. Agnes Rossi, if you're out there, hope you're still writing.